National Day of Action for Electoral Reform →
nationaldayofaction.ca
Saturday, May 14
(Sorry for the lack of posts of late, btw. We’ll get our act together soon.)
May 2011
33 posts
I dislike Harper as much as the next person, but the point I want to make is that not mandating the census is a good step towards respecting privacy rights of citizens. If only he would respect privacy rights in other matters as well...
The extra information collected in the long form census is anonymous and confidential. How is that an invasion of privacy?
Tell Prime Minister Harper: We will hold you accountable and push for electoral reform. →
leadnow.ca
From the petition site:
A clear majority of Canadians voted for change.
9 million voters cast their ballots for parties that share much in common. 9 million voted to strengthen our democracy, protect our environment and increase our equality.
Yet, because these parties split the vote in riding after riding, Prime Minister Harper has gained near total control of our government with the support of less than 6 million voters1. The only thing that can check his power is the shared voices of Canadians like you.
Right now, we need to send Prime Minister Harper a clear message that although he has a majority of seats, he does not enjoy majority support. In his acceptance speech, he said “…we must be the government of all Canadians, including those who did not vote for us.” We expect him to follow through with this commitment, and we will be here, growing stronger every day to hold him to account to the agenda of a majority of voters:
The Conservatives now have control of the House of Commons, with free reign to appoint individuals to key posts and pass laws2. Public opinion is the most powerful force to keep Prime Minister Harper in check. However big the majority, no government that disregards public opinion will govern for long.
We need to build a movement that can bring Canadians together to hold Prime Minister Harper accountable, build support to fix our democracy, and achieve progress on the major challenges facing our country through all levels of government.
Please sign!
Submitted by jedimastermurderouskillerbitch
Look I'm all for "highlighting the hypocrisy and malevolence" of Harper and the conservative government. But to say that their election was a failure of democracy is flat out wrong. Try having a little substance or we're no better than them.
The failure is that Harper was found in contempt of parliament; he misrepresents the Westminster system to the public; he shuts out the press; and he flouts Elections Canada’s rules. He is anti-democratic. And he was re-elected.
His re-election is also the result of a failure of democracy in terms of the flaws of the first-past the post system; that getting under 40% of the popular vote is enough to get a majority.
Changes and Such
Thank you to everyone who sent us messages of support encouraging us to continue with this blog. We have decided to keep The Harper Government going. However, there will be some changes to the blog and how it is run.
- We have other things going on in our lives that will have to take precedence now that the election is over. We will not be able to keep up the same frequency of posting as we did during the election. To make up for this we really encourage our followers to submit macros.
- We would also like to get other people involved as contributors and/or to help maintain the blog. If you’re interested, send us a message as an ask.
- Besides keeping up to date with the bad stuff Harper does, we also want to actively promote the good stuff the other parties do. We plan to do this by posting links and articles related to that, but also by posting macros of the other party leaders with positive messages. I’ve updated the exploitable page with macro images of Jack Layton and Elizabeth May, and links to Meme Generator. I’ll add the Liberals once they choose a new leader.
- I’ve also added a different, higher quality macro image of Stephen Harper that uses a more recent photo.
There may be other changes as well, but that’s all I can think of for now.
A Canadian on Politics: Here's What You Can Do Now →
politicalcanuck.tumblr.com
Now that the election is over your role in our democracy is not finished. Here are some things you should do:
Once the list of MPs is updated for the 41st Parliament, please subscribe to your MP’s feed on OpenParliament.ca, either through email or RSS….
Election coverage starts in half an hour!
Just another tidbit on why you should not vote CONservative...
From Womanist Musings, “How Does Disableism Factor In Today’s Election”:
Hey, Canadian readers, today is election day. I’m expecting that most of you who read my blog are already Dippers, Liberals, Greens, or independents. So you probably will not be surprised to learn that Conservative MP James Moore has given us yet another reason to not vote Conservative. It appears that the charming Mr. Moore believes that autism is not a real disability, that we are in fact, a “special interest group”.
Anyone else reminded of America’s Sweetheart, Michael Savage, saying a near identical smear against autistics, only with more colourful language?
Yes, it’s a common trope. Because some of us (not all of us by the way) can talk, go to college, live on our own, drive a car, it must mean we’re all faking that disability stuff. Take away all our silly accessories, give us a good talking-to and possibly physically assault us, and we’ll hop right into productivity, start talking, and not need any assistance whatsoever! I’m just faking it! I totally am capable of being neurotypical, if I just try!
Enough bitter joking. The truth is, I am genuinely frightened that people like him have power over my soon-to-be home. Autistic people regularly have to contend with bullies….
Read the rest here: http://www.womanist-musings.com/2011/05/how-does-disableism-factor-into-todays.html
Though we’ve hit on many issues on this blog, we haven’t said anything about the impact of the Conservative government on people with disabilities. Thanks, jedimastermurderouskillerbitch for the submission; which helps fill the void.
Just a reminder that we will be tweeting tonight!
As the election results roll in! Starting at 9pm ET! Join us!
